PRESIDENT DIES
J A Manusama, president in exile of the Republic of South Maluku (RMS) between 1966 and 1993, died in Rotterdam aged 85. He had lived in the Netherlands ever since the short-lived Ambonese republic failed in its bid to separate from the Republic of Indonesia in 1950.
reg.westpapua 29 Dec. 1995.

BELO AWARD
East Timor's Bishop Belo was awarded the 1995 Freedom Award by the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development in Canada to mark International Human Rights Day.
reg.easttimor, 11 Dec. 1995.

MODEL JUDGE
The Indonesian Lawyers Association (Ikadin) named High Court Judge Adi Andoyo Soetjipto as 'model judge' for the quality of his judgments and his personal integrity. Soetjipto won popular acclaim for freeing nine people framed for the murder of labour activist Marsinah. He also freed labour union leader Muchtar Pakpahan, saying the judgment against him had been 'colonial-minded'.
Kompas 30 Dec. 1995.

RIGHTS AWARD
Mrs Ade Rostina Sitompul was awarded the Yap Thiam Hien Award by a panel of prominent legal and human rights campaigners in Jakarta for her work helping political prisoners. Honoured with her on Human Rights Day were farmers from Jenggawah in East Java, who had resisted attempts to evict them from their land.
Republika 5 Dec. 1995.

SOLDIERS TRIED
Military prosecutors in Jayapura demanded 18 months jail and expulsion from the Army for a Second Lieutenant who ordered three subordinates to shoot villagers in Hagani, near Hoya in Irian Jaya's interior, last year. Six military officers could be tried for their alleged involvement in the killing of four protesters at the Nipah dam site in East Java. Forty-six soldiers were put on trial in an East Timor military court in early January for various offences, including resisting a superior, desertion, immoral behaviour, and traffic violations.
Kompas 8 and 9 Jan. 1996; Reuter 14 Feb. 1996.

BOOK BANS
Between 1991 and 1995, Indonesia's Attorney General banned 32 books. Biggest year was 1991, with 15 titles banned, ten of them polemical Islamic texts. A historical study by Soe Hok Gie on the mixture of communism and Islam in early Indonesian nationalism, and a book on labour by Muchtar Pakpahan, were also prohibited that year. In 1993 the most controversial banned book was a coffee table production by Soekarno's widow Dewi Soekarno, featuring soft porn photos of herself. Last year Pramoedya Ananta Toer's Buru Island prison memoirs were banned, as were the memoirs of Soekarno-era Cabinet Minister Oei Tjoe Tat.
Kompas 16 Jan. 1996.

ILLEGAL TIMBER
At least 70% of all timber entering Jakarta is illegal and the state is losing $3 million a month in taxes, according to Jakarta Military aarea Chief of Staff Brig-Gen Sutiyoso. 'Everyone just wants to eat,' said one timber ship crewman, 'us the crew, the owners of the timber, and the harbour officials.' One agent predicted the practice would be impossible to eradicate because Jakarta could not do without timber.
Kompas 6 Feb. 1996.

MUSLIM ARRESTS
In the past nine months, the military has detained at least sixteen hundred Muslims in Central and West Java for involvement in a variety of fundamentalist sects. In November the press reported the arrest of 302 members of the Sukma Sejati sect based in Banjarnegara. In January it said 862 members of a group resembling the 1950s Indonesian Islamic State movement (NII) were arrested around Banten. In February it said 428 suspected NII followers were rounded up in the Greater Jakarta area till December 1995. The latter were mostly unemployed young men linked with an Islamic school in the Tanjung Priok harbour area. Most press comment blamed officials for laxness in giving ideological 'guidance'.
Digest, Apakabar 9 Feb. 1996.

PORTUGUESE TV IN EAST TIMOR
Portuguese state television has begun broadcasting Portuguese- language programmes into East Timor, using a Chinese government- owned satellite. Local parliamentarian Manuel Carrascalao said he was deeply moved. State television in Indonesia is strapped for funds, but Indonesian director-general for radio and television Dewabrata called on private television to 'straighten out' the views in the Portuguese broadcasts. The commercial networks gave his call a lukewarm reception.
Digest, Apakabar 9 Feb. 1996.

INEQUITY INCREASES
The gap between Indonesia's rich and poor has started to widen again, reversing a trend of recent years. Central Bureau of Statistics chairman Sugito Suwito told a parliamentary hearing that from 1975 to 1985 the wealth gap had steadily narrowed, with a slight widening by 1990. However, between 1990 and 1993 (the most recent figures available), the wealth gap had widened significantly, almost to 1975 levels.
AAP 9 Feb. 1996.

LOGGING
In 1993 large scale logging was suspended on Yamdena Island in Eastern Indonesia after local people launched a successful international campaign against it. Now it has resumed, and the 83,000 Yamdena people are protesting again. A company owned by timber baron Bob Hasan is logging two-thirds of the island's tropical rainforest.
Apakabar 9 Feb. 1996.

SMELLY COMPANY
Notorious polluter Indah Kiat sent 42 of its employees to hospital with dizziness after accidentally releasing chlorine gas into the atmosphere at its Riau paper pulp factory.
Reuter, 9 Feb. 1996.

HACKER HACKS
An activist hacker in Europe penetrated the Web page of the high tech research agency BPPT, and left his name, address and a message about East Timor. An embarrassed BPPT closed the page to heal the breach.
Kompas 10 Feb. 1996.

MORE GOLD
The discovery of a world class gold deposit at Busang in East Kalimantan by junior Canadian company Bre-X is triggering takeover bids and a rush of exploration. Busang probably contains 40 million ounces of gold, more than the largest deposit in North America.
Dow Jones 13 Feb. 1996.

HELPING HAND
A surprise Presidential Instruction has ordered a 20% surcharge be added to the import duty on propylene and ethylene, key ingredients for making plastic. The Instruction effectively protects petrochemical giant, Chandra Asri, owned by the President's son Bambang Trihatmodjo and by Prajogo Pangestu, from a global petrochemical glut. It also reverses a year old commitment from the government not to respond to requests for assistance by Chandra Asri.
Reuter 15 Feb 1996; Business Times 5 March 1996.

TOP TAX PAYERS
The top 20 personal tax payers for 1994 paid 1.5% of the nation's personal tax. Heading the list was cigarette maker Putra Sampoerna. Second and fourth were Soedono Salim (Liem Sioe Liong) and his son Anthony, while third was Henry Pribadi, who all head diversified conglomerates. Fifth (the first indigenous Indonesian) and sixteenth were Presidential sons Bambang Trihatmodjo and Hutomo Mandala Putra (Tommy Suharto). Sixth was timber magnate Prajogo Pangestu.
Republika, Kompas 16 Feb. 1996.

TANSIL'S TRAIL
A judge involved in the case against jailed high flier Eddy Tansil is himself under investigation, for accepting bribes during the appeal hearings. The bribery allegation against Sutrisno came to light during an unrelated court case in Yogyakarta. Tansil had his sentence increased from 17 to 20 years last year.
Kompas 19 Feb. 1996.

DISASTERS
Only 41 passengers survived the nighttime capsizing of a heavily overloaded ferry carrying 236 people, including several foreign tourists, off the northern tip of Aceh. Sharks were later caught with human remains in their stomachs. Some officials may be charged with negligence.
Floods in Jakarta are getting worse. In February, 13 people were killed when water up to 2 metres deep swept the city centre. Flood waters paralyzed business, stopped flights, and put 100,000 telephone lines out of action. One reason is the loss of vegetation due to widespread building.
The death toll of a powerful earthquake and tidal wave that hit Biak in Irian Jaya on 17 February reached 101, with a further 51 missing, and 281 injured. Thousands of houses were damaged or destroyed.
Surabaya Post 22 Jan; Kompas 27 Feb. 1996.

LABOUR RIOTS
Over a thousand women labourers rioted at the Frans Brothers Sejati factory in Tangerang over pay conditions. They overturned 28 cars and wrecked office equipment, stopping only when warning shots were fired. Some said they were paid only Rp 150-200 (Aus 10-15 cents) per shift. Womens Affairs Minister Mien Sugandhi who went to meet them praised their strength but blamed them for not following procedures.
Media Indonesia 13 Feb. 1996, Surabaya Post 16 Feb. 1996.